Here we have the second chapter where the Moonlit Lovers story begins and where the Milfie route continues.

Step By Step (Milfie Route)

Six Months Later...

Six months had passed since the war with Eonia and the Black Moon ended, but one major change had occurred. After Milfie had used up all of her luck to save the Elsior so the Black Moon could be destroyed with the Chrono Break Cannon, she retired from the Angel Wing and Tact went with her so they could have their picnics together.

As for the rest of us, we were on the Elsior with Lester who took charge of the ship as Commander...well almost the rest of us were. Ranpha, Mint and Vanilla were out in space dealing with one of the Empires bases near Lena. Forte and I were waiting to be greeted by a new member of the group and I was hoping it'll be a female since I was still single during that time. The hanger doors opened and in flew an Emblem Frame I hadn't seen before and it landed on a vacant slot.

When the pilot got out, it was indeed a female. She had long black hair with red ribbons and a purple dress around the middle and bottom covered by her angel wing jacket. Taking in the details...I was almost blown away, she looked beautiful and I had an eagerness to introduce myself first.

"I am Ensign Karasuma Chitose." She formally greeted. "I am honoured to work with the Angel Wing."

"Good to meet you, Chitose." Forte replied. "The name's Forte, the Angel Wing's ring leader as I'm known for."

"And I'm Arnold Williams." I added, moving forward and shaking her hand. "The only male member and second in command of the group."

Chitose looked at me. "Umm, h-h-hi lieutenant Williams." she said a little nervously.

"Oi oi!" Forte intervened. "What's all this then?"

I kept my cool. "You know me Forte, I like to be a gentleman when it comes to greetings. I was like this to you girls when I first met you, remember?"

"Nope...I'm not buying that answer. Besides, you only learnt about us when we got on the Elsior for the very first time."

I turned back to the newcomer. "Anyways, welcome to the Elsior. Mind if I call you Chitose?"

"Huh?" Chitose responded.

"And if you like, you can call me Arnold."

"Ehhh?" she gasped, blushing.

"Oh...well if you don't want to, I don't mind."

"N-n-n-n-no, I didn't say no." She tried to regain her composure. "But, wouldn't there be a problem?"

"Take deep breaths, girl." Forte said. "Arnold's just a man...and he's single."

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm one man and..." suddenly realizing the words I just heard. "Wait what?! Don't say that!"

"Oops, did I mention too much?" Forte laughed.

I sighed in embarrassment. "Ugh...apologies for all this, Chitose. It's kind of how we angel wing members behave unless we're in combat."

Chitose seemed back to normal. "There's no need to, I must report to the commander of the ship and have my own room set up."

"Sure thing, come with us. We'll show you the way." Forte replied.

We left the hanger and my first impressions on Chitose is that she is no doubt a beautiful girl and could be my type. Well potentially since she was a bit flushed when she spoke to me first time. We walked to the bridge where Lester was waiting, the Elsior was still the same with Almo and Coco in their resumed roles.

"Angel Wing here, Lester." Forte said. "Along with the newcomer."

"Commander Coolduras, a pleasure to meet you." Chitose added. "I am honoured to be on the Elsior.

Lester nodded. "Now that we have three pilots, I think we're ready to move on to the next step of our objective."

"Next step?" Forte asked.

"We've detected a small fleet of automated ships heading towards this sector here, we're to go over there and deal with the enemy. The journey shouldn't take too long and if we do it quick, we might be able to get a hold of Tact."

"Tact, eh?" I asked. "You think he'll be somewhere there too?"

"Maybe, although I can't remember where he and Milfie moved to after they left the military. But if I'm honest, I think we need them back, more importantly Tact."

"Then we shouldn't be immobile here, we should be making a move."

"Agreed...all units, let's move out to the designated sector as planned. Angel Wing, be on standby until then."

"Roger that, Lester." Forte replied.

We left the bridge and we took the time to give Chitose a tour of the Elsior, giving me a chance to get to know her more.

One Week Later...

Sirens went off when I was in the hanger, I timed that well as I got into my frame first. Forte and Chitose followed in their frames, looking around I had noticed that the ship was still carrying the Lucky Star. We flew out into the open space and we took note of the enemy ships moving close to some civilian ships, one of which was smaller and was going inside the Elsior, I did wonder why.

There were four destroyers and four cruisers, our first battle in six months, I wondered if Chitose was ready for this.

Suddenly, a familiar face appeared on my screen. "Long time no see, Arnold."

"Tact?!" I exclaimed. "That was you inside the ship that went into the Elsior?"

"Hi Arnold!" Milfie added from behind him. "Haven't seen you for months."

"Milfie, happy to see you as well."

"Wait, you two are on the Elsior now?" Forte asked.

"Yeah, but we can talk about it later." Tact replied. "I want you angels to eliminate the automated ships so the civilian ships can escape from that moon city."

"Roger that, we've got this." I said. "You ready for this, Chitose?"

"Y-y-y-yes, let's deal with the enemy."

"Keep it together, girl." Forte said. "Milfie, you don't need to sortie, just watch what we three can do."

"Okay Forte, you three do your best." Milfie replied.

The battle began and each of us took out a destroyer, it felt good to be back in action. Two cruisers were up next but Chitose was ready for them.

"My spirit level has peaked." Chitose said.

"Use it now." Forte replied.

"Face our justice, enemy ship. Fatal Arrow!" Her arrows were dead accurate and the two cruisers were gone.

I mowed down the last destroyer and Forte shot down the last two cruisers.

"Enemy fleet destroyed." I said. "Now it's time to return to the Elsior and meet up with our old friends."

We flew our frames back inside the Elsior and we got out to find Tact and Milfie with smiles.

"We're back from combat, good to see you Tact." I said. "And Milfie, happy to see you as well."

"Glad that you're doing well." Tact replied. "You were great out there as always."

"Arnold!" Milfie added giving me a friendly hug. "So who was that new girl?"

"That's Chitose who Forte and I met just a week ago...I think she likes me a bit."

Milfie smiled. "Really...then you should get to know her more."

"I'm way ahead of you on that one."

After the battle was over, Tact was ordered to come back into the military and return to his role as commander, meaning Lester would go back to his sub-commander role and I think he looked relieved to hear that, Mint and Ranpha used to tease him quite a bit and it had to take me and Forte to try and keep things focused.

With some free time, I walked in the viewing park where Chitose was sitting down, breathing in the clear air even if it was just the air conditioning blowing around.

"Oh...h-h-hi, Mr Arnold." she said, blushing. "You well?"

"Sure am." I replied. "You taking a rest here?"

"Yes, m-m-mind if you sit by me?"

"Of course, I could do with a sit down myself."

I sat down on the dry grass beside her. The blushing she had going on was pretty cute, it made me feel more attracted to her.

"So that was Milfie?" she asked.

"Yep, she was actually the person I got to make friends with when I first joined to the Elsior."

Chitose looked at me, trying very hard to not be nervous. "I see...did you have feelings for her?"

I shook my head. "I was flattered but no, I didn't have strong feelings for her or for any of the other girls."

Chitose seemed a little relaxed, hearing that. "Oh...so if you don't mind me asking, are you still single?"

"I still am because back then it wasn't the right time for me to take the next step." I looked back at her. "They're amazing girls, but I only see them as close sisters."

"Then will I become a close sister to you?"

"Well, it may be too soon for me to answer that. But my feelings are telling me that I want to get to know you more."

"I see...well, m-m-maybe in the future when we become close friends..."

"Hm? So you want to become close friends, even though me and the others are like idols?"

Chitose smiled, still blushing. "Y-yes. It seems odd, but talking to you, I feel like I can be brave and tell you almost anything and you would listen to me."

"Well I was always told that I'm a good listener and I was raised well, even though I don't remember much of my past. Apart from what happened in the past six months."

"Hmm, past..."

"Is something wrong, Chitose?"

"No Arnold, it's nothing."

I then saw an opportunity when I noticed a well blossomed flower by the bushes. I got up and picked it from the bush before sitting back down by her.

"Then let this be a toast to our beautiful friendship." I said. "Here, I know it may seem too forward of me since it's only been a week since we met, but I wanna give you this."

"A flower?" she asked, blushing.

"Yeah and don't tell anyone but I know how to put it in someone's hair with a ribbon."

She seemed nervous again. "Oh, then please use my ribbons and be gentle."

I took her ribbons and I wrapped one of them on the flower and placed it on her hair and tied the ribbon lace with a second one to keep it in place.

"There we go, all done." I said, moving back a bit from her.

Chitose was blushing. "Wow...it feels comfortable and the flower matches well, where did you learn to do that?"

I sat back down beside her. "Ranpha taught me it when she was giving me tips on how to become close friends with a girl, I just made an improvisation on this occasion."

"Well either way...thank you very much, Arnold. Then I agree, to our close friendship, I hope that we can work together with the rest of our friends...and maybe us."

I held her hand in a handshake gesture with smiles before leaving the park as we had to go to the bridge.

After a closely fought battle with Rezom who made his return along with a new enemy, Nefuria, I was in the convenience store, thinking of what gift I should get for Chitose when Milfie walked in.

"Hi Arnold." she called. "How it's going?"

"Pretty well." I replied. "Actually, I'm glad you're here, mind if we talk?"

"Sure, it's been a while since we spoke one on one."

"Yeah, how are things with Tact?"

"Well...to be honest, it's alright. I'm happy that he's protecting me, but I want to be much more use to him."

"Hmm, you mean you wanna try piloting the Lucky Star again?"

"Yes, because of the war that's going on again, there are so many things I wanna do with Tact, but we can't...and it's making me upset."

"Well it may not be my place to say it, but I don't think he's paying attention to your true feelings."

"Huh?"

"If he loves you, he should be focusing on how you feel but it looks like he's not even trying to. Maybe I should go and talk to him..."

She looked at me. "Please do, Arnold...I know we'll be meeting with Ranpha, Mint and Vanilla soon but I don't want them to see me like this, especially Ranpha, she would not hesitate to beat him up."

"Oh we need to avoid that at all costs...alright, I'll go and see him...cheer up Milfie."

"I'll try to...thanks Arnold."

I left the store and just my luck, I found Tact walking out of the cafeteria. "Tact, we need to have a serous talk, in your room, please."

"Uhhh okay." he replied, looking concerned.

We walked to his room where I could feel comfortable to tell him. "Okay Tact, I want to know...how much do you love Milfie?"

Tact seemed taken back. "Well that's easy, I love her so much that I'll protect her."

"Well that's all good, but you're disregarding in what makes a great relationship. Do you know how much Milfie loves you?"

"How much she loves me...actually, I never thought about that...we haven't even kissed either."

I blinked in surprise. "Seriously...you're lucky that Ranpha isn't here to hear you say that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Tact...you're disregarding Milfie's feelings, actually, you're not even trying to consider her feelings on love and protection."

"I'm not even trying...wait, now that you mention it."

"She wants to pilot the Lucky Star, that's what her feelings want right now. There's so much she wants to do with you but because of what's going on right now, she can't and that is upsetting her...if you know what's good for you, you better go and see Milfie when she's alone. Never mind what Lester says!"

"I think I finally understand what you're getting at...alright, I'll go and see Milfie. I need to apologise to her...thanks Arnold, I was so blind with my own selfish feelings."

"You sure were, now get going...I've gotta go and check on Chitose." I left his room whilst he left and went to look for Milfie.

We had a tough battle that involved a pair of assault satellites, but Milfie was able to pilot the Lucky Star and help us out. Seeing that she was able to clean house, she was officially welcomed back into the Angel Wing which made everyone on the Elsior very happy. We had a celebration in the cafeteria and Milfie threw up a few coins which all came up as heads. Her good luck was back as well, how that happened though was best left to not be explained.

When she threw the coins again and came up as tails, I suddenly thought that her bad luck might be back as well. I rushed to the kitchen to see Chitose observing the oven that was cooking the cake that Milfie and her made, the over began to blew smoke from the back.

"Chitose, get out of there, quick!" I exclaimed.

"Why, what's happening?" She asked.

"The oven's about to blow." I grabbed her by the waist and run out of the kitchen.

"Eh?!"

"Take cover!"

*BOOM!*

The oven had exploded and thankfully Chitose wasn't hurt.

"A-a-a-a-Arnold." Chitose said nervously.

"What is it? You sound really nervous." I replied.

"It's because...you're s-s-s-still holding on to m-m-me."

I blinked, my arms were still around her, I immediately let her go. "Oh...sorry about that, I had to grab you and get you out of there so you wouldn't get hurt."

Chitose was blushing in bright red. "It's aright, Arnold...thanks for saving me...I felt warm and safe."

Milfie rushed by and saw the scene of the oven and the cake that was now ruined.

"Nooooooo!" Milfie cried. "Our cake..."

"Looks like the bad luck is back as well." I said. "Never mind, we can make another one if I help out."

"Really, you'd like to help us?"

"Of course I do, I wanna be more than just a pilot too."

We shared a small laughter, looks like things are gonna get more interesting on the Elsior again.

A day had passed and after our second encounter with Rezom's fleet, the whole Angel Wing was back together again as Ranpha, Mint and Vanilla joined with us ready to move forward to our next destination of Lena. Whilst the girls were talking about Tact and Milfie's relationship, I was suddenly thrown into the fray about my love status.

"So Arnold." Ranpha said. "Have you found someone special yet?"

"I found a very close friend if that counts." I replied, trying to cover up about me and Chitose wanting to be very close friends for now. "And don't you think of reading my mind."

Mint showed her innocent smile. "Oh I wouldn't dream of it, Arnold. I will not use such a tactless trick."

"Close friend...that's pretty lame." Ranpha dismissed.

"It's not if you think about it." Forte said. "If Arnold wants to take his time on getting to know a girl, then we shouldn't interfere."

"Yeah, Arnold is close friends with all of us and we should support him on his choices." Milfie added.

Vanilla nodded. "A close bond cannot be broken."

"Anyways, I better go and do my routine check." Tact said. "It's that time again."

"Very well, Tact." I replied. "I better go as well..."

I left the lounge, not realising that Chitose was beside me.

"Umm, hope you don't mind Arnold, but could you come with me to my room?" I asked.

"Sure I don't mind, it'll be the first time I've seen your room."

"Actually it will, I think you might like it."

We walked up to her room and when she walked in, I followed through and noticed her room appearance. It had a traditional home world feel with a small archery range.

"Well you weren't wrong." I commented. "I like this room, it's much better than the guest room I have to put up with."

"Thanks, it's based on the homes I used to live by and grew up with." she replied.

I then noticed something in the corner. "Is that your teddy bear?"

"Yes...there's a story behind why I have this...and since we've got to know each other well in a short space of time, I feel that I can tell you."

"Well I'm all ears...because I haven't got anything to do for the rest of this day."

She picked the teddy up and held on to it. "This was a gift that my father was bringing back for me after one of his operations during the last war." She began to lose her smile. "However, my father was met with a fatal accident on the way. I don't know the details, but he perished along with his ship when he was helping his crew to evacuate the ship that was about to explode."

"Oh my...I'm sorry to hear that. Now that I think about it...I can't even remember if I had a family myself."

Chitose seemed surprised. "Really...then were you an orphan?"

"Maybe I was...but seeing the angel wing are what I would consider as sisters as I told you a while ago."

"Yes you did...it may seem forward but if you had a family, I'm sure you would cherish them as much as I would if my father was still alive."

I sighed. "I would indeed...by the way, I had to say close friends when Ranpha asked me, because I didn't want them to figure out what you and I are working towards."

"I understand...thanks for covering that up. I don't say it often, but you are a special guy and I wouldn't mind on being close to you..." she gasped, closing her mouth.

Now I was beginning to blush. "Was that a confession?"

"M-m-m-m-maybe..."

"Oh my...then would it be okay if we shared a hug, since there's no one else around?"

Chitose blushed. "S-s-s-sure...think of it as a close friendship hug."

I relaxed and smiled. "I will...and we don't have to tell anyone about it."

Chitose put her teddy down on a table and she walked up to me. I could tell that she was blushing red through this, but my smile made her calm. We wrapped each other in a close and gentle hug. Her arms were around my neck and my arms were around her waist. I could even feel her heartbeat that was almost beating in sync with mine.

"I feel safe when we're like this." Chitose said quietly.

"Me too...I almost don't wanna let go." I replied without thinking about it.

Chitose began to hold me a little tighter. "I better let you go in case one of the other girls wants to see me."

We pulled out of the hug. "That would be a good idea...maybe we can share another hug soon?"

"Yes...I would like that...maybe hold on for a little longer too...see you Arnold."

"Same to you, Chitose."

I left her room and I was glad that no one else was around, I walked back to my guest room and laid down on the bed. There was no doubt about it now...I really liked her more than ever.

It had taken nearly all of our combined strength, but after overcoming Rezom and helping out with Noah, we finally defeated Nefuria and her Val-Fasc fleet. We were treated to a 30-day paid vacation which we all really needed. The other angels and Tact were getting ready to have the first night of our vacation on Transbaal. They were waiting for me and Chitose.

I looked around the top block and found Chitose in the viewing park, standing near a lamppost and gazing at the stars. "There you are, Chitose." I said. "We have to go."

"Oh...how long were you looking at me for?" Chitose asked.

"Just a few seconds, I came here to find you because Tact and the others are ready to go."

"Ah...then we should get going..." She paused, beginning to blush again. "...but can we hold hands until we get to the hanger?"

I blushed as well. "Yes we can...and can we also share our hug again?"

"Maybe when we have a day to ourselves...if you wish."

"I do...as soon as we have time to ourselves, I would like that very much."

Chitose smiled as I took her hand, making ourselves blush even more before we left the park.

Well we weren't there yet, but step by step, we were taking each step closer towards the next big one that might happen during our 30-day vacation.

So as you can see, Arnold and Chitose are taking it slow but this will lead to a minor plot point in the next and final chapter of the Tact and Milfie route